Texas Prison Bid'ness

On January 14th, a 41 year old man named Mario A. Garcia was found dead in his cell in LCS Corrections' Brooks County jail, leaving behind a widow and 10 year old son. Garcia had only been in jail a couple weeks after pleading guilty to charges of bid-rigging on December 31st, 2008 while working with the Corpus Christi Army Depot. Despite his detention, Garcia was never formally sentenced prior to his death.

Before his processing into the jail, Garcia had a documented health condition that required he take antidepressants and seizure medication. Because of this medical condition, Garcia was not allowed to live freely outside of prison before his sentencing (as most inmates serving time for similar crimes are allowed to do) for fear that he might kill himself. However, once imprisoned, Garcia was not given access to his medication, and a seizure is the major side effect of the medications if withheld.

On July 23rd, Garcia's family filed a lawsuit against LCS Corrections, according to an article in the Corpus Christi Caller-Times ("Family sues private prison for inmate's death in Brooks County," July 23rd):

"The lawsuit claims [Garcia] was denied access to medication, despite warnings from family members about his condition. An autopsy by the Nueces County medical examiner found that Garcia died of the seizure disorder. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages. It names prison owner LCS Correction Services, the prison’s former warden and former doctor as defendants." 

Not only does LCS have this looming lawsuit on their hands, they also just went through a period of laying off prison employees shortly after the time of Garcia's death in their Coastal Bend Detention Center in Robstown, TX. The CBDC had just opened in November of 2008, but by January 2009 LCS had to lay off 40 prison guards due to financial troubles. The facility would not be fully staffed again until March of 2009. It is not clear whether or not Garcia's death contributed to the cause of the LCS layoffs in Robstown, TX but the correlations show it could be a possibility.

We will do our best to follow this lawsuit and its consequences for LCS Corrections. Meanwhile, feel free to take a closer look at LCS Corrections.

A GEO Group guard has been sentenced for repeatedly punching a prisoner in 2006, according to reporting from Karen Gleason at the Del Rio News ("Jail term for former jailer" November 14). The GEO guard, Emmanuel Cassio, who was 18 at the time of the crime, will serve 16 months for the crime. According to the article,

Cassio was employed as a jailer at the Val Verde Cunty Detention Center, which is operated by The GEO Group, a private company, under a contract with Val Verde County, from late April 2006 until he was fired in late November 2006, Val Verde County Detention Center Warden John Campbell told the Del Rio News-Herald in a previous interview.

Cassio pleaded guilty to the two charges on April 30, 2008.

“Cassio admitted that on Oct. 31, 2006, while working as a corrections officer at the Val Verde County Detention Center, he used unreasonable force when he repeatedly punched an inmate without provocation,” the press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office noted.

“Cassio agreed that his assault violated the inmate’s constitutional right to be free of unreasonable force by law enforcement officers. Additionally, Cassio admitted that he obstructed justice when he provided false information about the incident to investigators,” the press release read.

Val Verde County Sheriff’s Office investigators, who initiated an investigation of the allegations against Cassio at the request of Campbell and Val Verde County Sheriff A. D’Wayne Jernigan, said Cassio walked into a cell and “struck an inmate with his fist.”

“The inmate then made a remark and the jailer returned and hit him again. This incident was witnessed by another jailer who reported it to jail administration. Warden Campbell immediately notified Sheriff Jernigan and requested an investigation,” said VVSO Lt. Larry Pope, head of the sheriff’s office criminal investigations division and who attended Wednesday’s sentencing of Cassio in federal court here.

GEO's Val Verde Detention Center has certainly not been without operational problems. The facility has been under a county monitor since a lawsuit was brought by a civil rights organization on behalf of the family of LeTisha Tapia, a detainee who committed suicide after reporting that she had been sexually assaulted and denied medical care. GEO settled both suits. In a separate 2005 suit, an employee reported that his superior displayed a hangman’s noose in his office and took pictures in his prison uniform donning KKK garb.

In 2007, the facility was again rattled after four inmates came down with a mysterious illness. Three of the inmates later died, but a state investigation could find nothing at the prison linking the prison to the illnesses.

Last month, a Willacy County grand jury indicted The GEO Group, a Florida private prison company, on a murder charge in the death of a prisoner days before his release. The three-count indictment alleged The GEO Group allowed other inmates to beat Gregorio de la Rosa Jr to death with padlocks. The murder took place at the Raymondville prison in 2001.

In 2006, a jury ordered GEO to pay de la Rosa's family a civil judgment of $47.5 million. Earlier this week, District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra also indicted Vice President Richard Cheney, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, and state Senator Eddie Lucio, Jr.

The Associated Press reports:

Cheney is charged with engaging in an organized criminal activity related to the vice president's investment in the Vanguard Group, which holds financial interests in the private prison companies running the federal detention centers. It accuses Cheney of a conflict of interest and "at least misdemeanor assaults" on detainees because of his link to the prison companies. ...

The indictment accuses Gonzales of using his position while in office to stop an investigation in 2006 into abuses at one of the privately-run prisons. ...

Another indictment released Tuesday accuses Lucio of profiting from his public office by accepting honoraria from prison management companies. Guerra announced his intention to investigate Lucio's prison consulting early last year.

According to Alex Friedmann with the Prison Legal News and Private Corrections Institute, Guerra's actions are unique:

"Most District Attorneys wouldn't pursue these kinds of charges,'' Friedmann said today in a phone interview. The case is likely the ``first time a prison company has ever faced criminal charges as a result of a prisoner death in custody,'' he said. ``There might be another one out there, but if so, we're not familiar with it.''

The indictments have garnered much public attention. In court the interaction between Guerra and judge became heated. According to reports, the prosecutor believes Cheney and Gonzalez are receiving special treatment.

The stories surrounding these indictments and the prosecutorial actions taken by Guerra are marked by the high drama of Texas justice. We will continue to follow this story and keep you posted on the implications for private prison management in Texas.

Recent media reports at the T. Don Hutto detention center, a prison owned by the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), highlight changes to the private prison.  The notorious Hutto facility has been the target of numerous protests and a lawsuit as a result of its use to incarcerate immigrant families; some detainees as young as  newborns.  Press reports state that government officials are using a media blitz to lay the groundwork for additional family detention facilities that will be added to federal prison capacity over the next year.

According to an article in the San Antonio Express-News, reporter Hernán Rozemberg states:

Mired in controversy since its opening in May 2006, the 512-bed center has been through several makeovers. Administrators opened it for a swift media tour Tuesday to show how much has changed since the first tour 14 months ago.

Last year, the use of family detention at the private prison was resulted in litigation by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Immigration Clinic at the University of Texas Law School.  The lawsuit settlement required CCA, which contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Williamson County, to meet comply with several standards that change the conditions of confinement at the prison.

ICE officials, like Gary Mead, stated in an Austin American-Statesman article written by Juan Castillo, that they learned a lot as they moved to lock up children and their parents:

"Candidly, when (Hutto) opened, we were new to the family residential facility business. We learned a lot," Gary Mead, acting director for detention and removal at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said Tuesday.

As a result the changes required by the settlement and to improve public relations, the private prison recently opened its doors to the media to advertise changes underway at the facility.  Despite any aesthetic changes and additions of certain amenities, the facility in Taylor, Texas is fundamentally still a prison. 

Specifically, certain structures such as cell walls and the location of toilets in the space where someone sleeps cannot be altered.  However, that does prevent the news media from participating in the coordinated public relations campaign According to news reports those changes include:

• Metal toilets changed to porcelain;
• Curtains to surround the toilet and shower area;
• Eliminating the razor wire that surrounds the private prison;
• Outdoor recreation area that includes two soccer fields, a volleyball court, and tow playgrounds;
• Exercise area including treadmills and stationary bikes;;
• Planned fieldtrips for the children who are imprisoned; and
• Salad bar and a "hot bar" in the cafeteria — and the more homestyle recipes are a hit with the mostly Central American detainees thanks to one of them working as a cook.

Regardless of these changes, Hutto continues to be a private prison.  What continues to be disturbing is that ICE is going to expand the policy of locking up families.  Once again this represents a failed social policy as the United States continues to rely on incarceration even though Congress has insisted on alternatives to family detention.

Given that ICE is implying that they are looking to expand family detention capacity, we will monitor these developments.